Ohio Beyond Coal had a great action on April 5th at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Over 30 people showed up, and we held a press conference calling on the PUCO to take action on audits of coal plan bailouts, which are part of corrupt HB6 legislation. After the press conference, we went into the PUCO commissioner meeting and delivered over 500 postcard petitions we had collected.
Our event got covered in the State House News Bureau, Gongwer, and Ohio Capital Journal. Participating organizations included: Sierra Club, Ohio Environmental Council, Utilities for All, Poor People's Campaign, Ohio Citizen Action, SEIU Local 1, and Columbus Stand Up.
In 2013, AEP began asking the Public Utilities Commission to get cost recovery for the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation coal plants. Other utilities followed, and charges began appearing on ratepayers’ bills in 2017. The bailouts were then extended to include all ratepayers in Ohio by proponents of corrupt HB6. Ohioans have already paid hundreds of millions of dollars and are expected to pay up to $850 million by 2030, funding coal plants that have operated at a loss for decades and polluted our environment. And Ohio Beyond Coal has been leading the charge to oppose these bailouts every step of the way!